Hartley Admits Interest in Possible 2018 IndyCar Switch

Brendon Hartley admits he would be interested in making a move into the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2018 after being linked with both Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing.

The New Zealander, who is on course to win a second FIA World Endurance Championship title in 2017 alongside Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, will be looking at his options for next season following Porsche’s decision to withdraw from the LMP1 class, and IndyCar appears to be high on his list.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to be racing next year, I’m looking at a lot of different options,” said Hartley to Motorsport.com. “For the moment nothing’s clear, but I’m confident I’ll be a in a good place next year.

“I spoke to many different teams [in Formula E], I tested with Venturi, but I’ve also been speaking to IndyCar teams, IMSA teams.

“I’d love to be in IndyCar and hopefully in the next weeks something will become clear. I’m genuinely looking closely at IndyCar and it would be a new challenge. I’m excited about the challenge of the ovals if IndyCar comes to fruition.”

Regardless of where he ends up racing in 2018, Hartley says that his relationship with Porsche should continue, but he acknowledges there will a lot of competition for seats from drivers no longer part of the LMP1 programme.

“The plan is wherever I go next year I’ll still have some kind of relationship with Porsche and we’ll hopefully still compete in a few races,” said Hartley.

“But with LMP1 stopping, there are going to be a lot of drivers [available] and not enough races for a full-time ride.”